


when you thought i was asleep

by dancer4813



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Cuddles, F/M, Fluff, Nighttime conversations, Sleepy Cuddles, Tal'dorei Campaign, With only a /tiny/ bit of angst, sleepy percy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-29
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-11-21 02:45:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11348250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancer4813/pseuds/dancer4813
Summary: Heartfelt confessions aren't too tricky when your significant other is asleep....(Or are they?)





	when you thought i was asleep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cinderpaw1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinderpaw1/gifts).



> Written as a prompt fill on tumblr for "Things you said when you thought I was asleep", and finished as a birthday present for Cinder. 
> 
> Basically just Perc'ahlia fluff.

Percy’s mind was busy, as it usually was, which unfortunately meant quite a long time lying in bed trying to shut it down. It also meant a significantly shorter amount of time spent actually sleeping than he intended, and much more time lying awake and thinking.

Usually Vex was one to flop down beside him and go straight to sleep until her alarm pulled her away from him at god-awful hours of the morning, but something was different that night, with her tossing and turning well into the early hours of the morning. He wasn’t sure if it was simply a restless slumber, or if she was actually awake, but he’d learned that Vex would let him know if something was wrong. 

He trusted she’d continue to do so. 

She hadn’t seemed off that day - a little reserved, but it was nearing the anniversary of the twins’ mother’s death, and it was expected. Percy knew from experience that the scars left by absent family members weren’t ones to fade quickly, and so he did what he could to help. 

Just as Percy was starting to drift off, when he could feel his immediate thoughts fading away and his breathing grow deeper, Vex shifted beside him. Instead of flipping over, however, pulling or pushing the duvet around, she sat up against the headboard and sighed heavily, her breathing shuddering a bit, as if she’d been crying. 

Percy, cresting on sleep as he was, didn’t fully comprehend what she was doing, and he found himself turning to face her, though his limbs were heavy and his eyelids even heavier, so they didn’t open despite him wanting them to. 

“No, it’s alright, Percy. Go back to sleep darling,” he heard Vex say, her voice honeyed as her fingers ran through his hair gently. 

Humming, Percy relaxed into his pillow again. 

If she insisted…

After an indeterminable amount of time he had reached that point of hovering on the precipice of true sleep once again, his mind still aware though his body was not going anywhere, and it was then that Vex continued to speak. 

Her voice was soft, like it was coming through a phone on speaker in the next room. It was also hesitant, and not jarring enough to bring him back to full consciousness. 

“We haven’t had a chance to talk recently,” she said, and Percy imagined the two of them sitting beside each other on the couch, a bottle of whiskey open on the table before them. “And I’m usually so good with words, so I don’t know why I feel the need to practice this…”

Vex was swirling her glass, the solid chunks of ice clinking against the sides as she stared down into it, her expression intense. 

“I haven’t told you, since you’ve been so busy and I haven’t had two minutes to myself over the past three weeks, but I’m late this month.”

Percy was confused, but he sipped his whiskey and waited for her to continue, her gaze still fixed on the ripples created in the amber liquid by swirling her ice cubes back and forth, back and forth. 

“I wasn’t worried - I’ve been late before, and I missed a couple days on the pill when I visited Pike in Vasselheim, so I kind of expected something to be off.”

Percy was trying to figure out what exactly she was talking about. He started trying to list the prescriptions he knew he was taking, and tried to recall some prescription that she had - she hadn’t had any recent health issues, had she? She took vitamins every day, but besides that…

Percy imagined their medicine cabinet and tried to picture each of the bottles, each of the labels, but the words ran together and some of them seemed larger than they should have been, and enraptured as he was with the images in his mind’s eye, he nearly missed her next words. 

“I haven’t felt well for the past few days. I assumed it was stress - goodness knows I’ve got enough on my plate as it is, with volunteering and working and the guest lectures I got signed up for… But something Keyleth said, it got me thinking.”

Percy stepped away from the bathroom cabinet and passed the kitchen, then appeared back on the couch, where Vex was still fixated on her whiskey. 

“She had been talking about how she and Vax might be trying for another kid, now that Sebastian is almost two… Sebastian Tiberius. I still can’t believe they had a kid first, you know, they were so slow starting out relationship, but they’re so happy now…”

The Vex in Percy’s mind had stood up, her hand pressed against the glass of the window that overlooked the city. Her glass of whiskey was pressed against her cheek, and when she pulled it away he wasn’t sure if he imagined the wetness there, or if it was from the glass, or from tears. 

It was slow going for Dream Percy to make his way over to the window to be with her, and his legs felt like lead weights were attached to them as he tried to reach her.

It was an age of walking, of trying to reach her, of long silence, before she spoke again. 

“I got some tests from the store on a whim, and- I’m so stupid. I tried them in a public bathroom on the way home, I just-”

Suddenly Percy was close enough to touch her, and Vex had turned to face him, the glass still clenched tightly in her hands, just at a level with his chest, so if he pulled her into his harms it would be touching just over his heart. 

“Obviously they could be faulty, I mean, that’s why I’m telling you this now, instead of waiting until you’re awake or something, but Keyleth said there’s a point where you just  _know_  and… Percy?”

Percy wanted to take her face in his hand, to run his thumb beneath her eye and clear away the dark circles that had come from months of seemingly non-stop responsibilities, but her hefty weight of silence hung between them for a long moment. Neither of them moved, neither of them breathed, and - for a moment - Percy wasn’t sure if he existed at all, suspended as he felt. 

“Percy,” Vex began, Vex slowly lifting her head, though her gaze remained on her glass. If he focused he could feel both the fabric of his pillow beneath his cheek and the solid wood of floor beneath his feet concurrently, his brain somehow whizzing all over the place while remaining deathly silent, hanging on Vex’s every word. 

“…I’m pregnant.”

She said the words as one usually says something they’re ashamed about, quick enough for them to leave the lips without lingering, but the Vex by the window looked up at him, eyes meeting his, and Percy almost fell over at the intensity of her gaze, and Percy himself was  _not_  expecting such a realization in this dream and he suddenly felt the weight of the duvet heavy across his legs-

“I don’t know why I can’t just wait until you’re awake, but I needed to say it once,” she was saying, even as Percy felt the him standing in the living room disappear and the him in the bed come back to himself, “but I haven’t told anyone yet, and I just couldn’t bring myself to tell you tonight before we went to bed-”

“You shouldn’t be drinking whiskey.”

“Percy?”

Percy groaned, reaching out, trying to grab the glass from her and hitting something soft instead. “Why do you have whiskey? You shouldn’t be- why are you drinking that? You know better-”

“Darling, I haven’t been drinking,” Vex said with a chuckle, her hand wrapping around his grabbing fingers, though her voice sounded thick. “But were you just awake for all of that?”

“A little bit?” he said, not entirely sure. “But you definitely had whiskey. Where’d my whiskey go? I think I might need it.”

He opened his eyes and squinted around, his immediate surroundings blurry and indistinct. 

“I don’t think you had any whiskey, darling,” Vex chuckled, though her voice caught and Percy saw the colors that made up her image shudder. 

Blinking himself back to a bit more awareness, Percy shook his head and sat up, using her hand as support as he realized what was going on. 

“I’m sorry, still a bit groggy,” Percy said, pushing himself up and fumbling his fingers around the nightstand, looking for his glasses. When he’d found them he slipped them on, and was treated to the sight of Vex, knees pulled to her chest, eyes bright with tears as she looked at him. “But Vex, this is fantastic!”

As he woke up a bit more, Percy felt both elated and rather terrified, but he couldn’t keep a smile off his face as he edged an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest when she didn’t shrug him off. 

“Really?” she asked, sniffing and dabbing at her eyes with the sheets.

“Absolutely,” Percy said, bringing his other hand around to her cheek and pulling her closer for a kiss. “You’re really pregnant?” 

“The tests said so,” she said, sniffing again. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess - I’m just- I don’t know-”

“It’s hormones, so I’m told,” murmured Percy into her hair. It was what Keyleth had said whenever she broke into tears over one of her flowers blooming while she was pregnant. 

“What, already?” Vex scoffed, and Percy chuckled, holding her tighter, the sleepiness having all but faded from his mind. 

“There’s always hormones in your body,” Percy pointed out, and Vex groaned, poking his shoulder. “There’s just more now.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know that,” Vex mumbled, closing her eyes with a sigh and resting her forehead against Percy’s chest. “But what are we supposed to do? We don’t know how to be parents!”

“I think that’s where parenting books can come in handy,” Percy said, running his fingers down her back. “And, you know, the real-life experience that Keyleth and your brother have, so they can give us advice.”

“Fair point,” Vex admitted, chuckling. She pulled away from his chest and kissed his cheek. “I just worry we’re going to mess it up, somehow.”

“That’s understandable - it’s a scary thing,” Percy said, bringing her forehead to his and running his thumb over her ear. 

“Honestly, I’m surprised you’re not freaking out more right now,” Vex confessed.

“I think a lot of my lack of concern is due to how tired I am right now.”

“Well, to be fair, Darling, I thought you were out cold. I’m sorry for waking you, by the way.”

“Don’t be sorry, Dear,” Percy said, kissing Vex gently on the lips. “It was a wonderful surprise.”

“It was certainly a surprise to me,” she said with an airy chuckle. But she kissed him again and when she pulled back he was glad to see that the tears were gone from her eyes. 

“Are you ready to sleep, so we can celebrate in the morning?” Percy asked, running a thumb down her cheek. 

“Sleep honestly sounds wonderful right now,” Vex admitted, yawning. “But will things feel different in the morning?

“I might have a nervous breakdown about being a parent, yes,” Percy said truthfully, reaching down to interlace his fingers with Vex’s, though he couldn’t keep the stupid grin off his face. “I will promise you right now, though, that this is one of the happiest moments of my life.”

“Glad to hear it, Darling,” Vex murmured, squeezing his fingers and laying down onto her pillows once again, pulling him down with her, and curling into his chest. 

They laid there together in silence for a long moment - long enough for Percy’s sleep-addled brain to start drifting off again - when Vex twisted around so her back was pressed up against his chest, her legs curled around his, and she pulled his arm over her waist. 

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she mumbled. 

Percy couldn’t do much more than hum in agreement, but he fell asleep soon after and dreamed of a small child with Vex’s hair and his eyes running through their apartment. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to see me write and recommend fanfics, or watch me spaz out over CR episodes, check out my main tumblr: [dancer4813](http://www.dancer4813.tumblr.com), or my writing tumblr: [dancerwrites](http://www.dancerwrites.tumblr.com).


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